Fresh from the Farm
Spring is in the air! I know it will probably freeze again, but the first warm balmy days have me outside working myself to death. Life on the farm is a constant challenge and there’s always something to plan, plant, feed or fix. The baby calves have been arriving and those rambunctious little rascals are so cute! The downside is you have to check the herd every day for sick calves, feed rolls of hay every few days, add salt and minerals to their troughs and monitor calving mommas. We’ve had to bottle feed one baby and chase a heifer across the farm to get her into the corral to pull her calf. For those interested in ordering freezer beef, we will have our spring group of hormone and antibiotic feeder steers ready soon. Visit the “All-Natural Beef” page for more details.
In anticipation of spring, I’ve been busy placing orders. I’m a huge fan of Craig’s List (www.craigslist.org) a free classified listing, and have found useful local leads in the farm and garden section. I wanted more chickens and discovered the Chick-N-Coop (www.chick-n-coop) in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. I ordered 15 Barred Rock four-week-olds to add to our eight Rhode Island Reds. Farm-fresh eggs really are the best! Our flock’s outdoor coop connects to our “dog jail” yard and after critter proofing it, I’ve let the chickens have free range of the large yard. They’ve been going to town - scratching here, there and everywhere. We just have to keep an eye out for our resident Red-Tailed Hawk pair.
For gardeners looking to buy asparagus and other interesting veggies, visit www.asparagusgardener.com for a Middle Tennessee supplier. I ordered 60 plants to install in our garden - now I just have to get their trenches ready. The goat pen and chicken coop are becoming my composting friend! We turned a 50 lb. plastic barrel that had olives in it into our compost barrel. By adding our house veggie scraps, shredded leaves and pine needles, along with the manure, I hope to have some “black gold” compost soon. After surveying Mom’s numerous seed catalogs, I ordered red raspberry plants, fig trees and flowers. We use a two-foot auger bit on our skid-steer loader to drill holes for our big plants, then we amend the holes with good dirt and compost when planting. This sure saves time and energy instead of digging each hole! Blackberries, more fruit trees and clover for the bees are also on the list for this spring.
With March comes the spring bee season and we hope to be ready this year! We’ve ordered three bee packages from Walter T. Kelley Bee Supply (www.kelleybees.com) in Clarkson, Ky., and we’ll be picking those up in March. I would encourage any readers that have gardens and want to help nature to look into beekeeping. With the loss of so many bees, we really need to help rebuild our bee population, and their honey is so beneficial for people to combat allergies. There are local beekeeping groups ready to help beginners. Visit www.tnbeekeepers.org to find the group nearest you in Tennessee. I also order bee supplies from www.brushymountainbeefarm.com, and actually prefer their woodenware to Kelley as it has tighter dove-tails on the boxes.
For Valentine’s, Wally made me a huge raised herb bed out of cross ties just outside our back door. He actually disassembled my little herb bed and moved it - doubling it’s size. I had picked up two van loads of already shredded and bagged leaves from a yard in town that was awaiting pick-up by the city, and we added some of these to the bed for organic material. The rest will go on the garden when we till it up.
I discovered another great resource for farms, agri-tourism, and those interested in healthy lifestyles - The Local Table publication. Visit their website at www.localtable.net to find farm listings (or to add yours), recipes, stories and more.
I am looking for heirloom and native fruit trees to plant on the farm. If you have some volunteers you would like to share, please let me know!
Well, guess I’ll take a break for now. There’s work to do! Check back later for a progress report.
Jamie
Life on the Farm: February 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009 - Plan, Plant, Feed & Fix!
